An Evening With Friends (And Monsters)
by theAdventurer0815
Summary: 10-year-old Sarah-Jane experiences an unusual evening in the company of a future friend, not knowing that the man is actually on a mission to save her – and by extension – his own life. (Short story that starts out fluffy, but turns into an adventure halfway through)
1. Chapter 1

_**An Evening With Friends (And Monsters)**_

SUMMARY:  
 _{ 10-year-old Sarah-Jane gets to experience an unusual evening in the company of a future friend, not knowing that the man is actually on a mission to save her – and by extension – his own life. }_  
 _Also see my author's note at the bottom of the chapter!_

* * *

It was June 1961, and a lovely warm summer evening in South Croydon, when Aunt Lavinia had gone to one of her science club meetings and left the young Sarah-Jane in the care of a sitter for the rest of the day. Now, if anyone was to ask the 10-year-old girl, she didn't need anyone to look after her, and in fact, she always thought that she was doing a better job at looking after her sitter than her sitter did at looking after her. This sitter in question was a neighbor of the Smith's, the old and kind-hearted Widow Madame Bosco, who had a tendency to talk about things of the past all evening long…

Still, in a way, Sarah was glad to have some company at all, even though she was intend to never mention that around Aunt Lavinia, as to not seem lonely.

When she had been a good bit younger and even smaller, she remembered fearing the loneliness more than anything and occasionally breaking into tears over the sheer thought that Lavinia might not come back from what was only a shopping trip, for example. Her aunt once explained her that this was most likely because parts of her were still painfully aware of the loss of her parents and that she had not come to terms with it. Of course, being an orphan bothered Sarah to some minor degree, but she remembered literally nothing about her parents, having been still an infant at the time of the accident. All she could say about them now was that even though they had been supposed to be her closest relatives, she felt quite distant from them.

So speaking about them and Lavinia missing from her life, those were two very different things from her point of view...

And now she was almost a teen. Much too old to be frightened by such silly thoughts as loneliness, anyway. Instead, she wanted to become a responsible, independent young woman. If she could show Lavinia that she was polite, patient, and could take care of Madame Bosco as well as the house during her Auntie's absence, that would make a solid first step towards her personal goal.

The sun stood already low at the time Sarah and the old widow sat in the Smith's living room. Madame Bosco was talking about her daily run-ins with all kinds of people from around town - which Sarah barely knew by name, so the girl just listened and gave the occasional nod. At the same time, she had made herself comfortable in one of the big armchairs, sitting cross-legged with a puzzle book on her lap. Flipping through pages of pencil mazes, crosswords and word searches, she was looking for something she hadn't solved already and actually felt like solving right now. That wasn't as easy as it looked. Her past self had left all the though-looking crosswords for the present one and she didn't really like them any more now than before.

"… and she told me that Miss Summer went on to marry the milkman. Would you believe it? You know Miss Summer, don't you, Sarah? She used to work at the grocery store until a year ago.", said the widow with the funny looking, thick glasses, although she was rather talking to herself, really. She had brought an unfinished piece of crochet work for her own entertainment while the hours of the evening were slowly passing.

"Hmhm." Sarah nodded without looking up, and quietly agreed without adding much to the conversation.

So all in all, it was a quiet and uneventful evening…

That was, until all of a sudden… the doorbell rang.

Curious, Sarah lifted her head wondering who might want to ring so late in the evening. In a way, she was hoping for Lavinia to be back early – or well, maybe her aunt had just forgotten some theoretical papers of hers? Whatever the reason, by the time Sarah had untangled her legs and put away the book, Madame Bosco surprisingly was on the way to the door already.

"It's alright, my child. I will see who it is."

"But I could-" The least the child could do was protest.

"It's probably just a neighbor asking for a cup of sugar. Just you stay here and wait."

The widow signaled to Sarah not to bother with the matter, so the child went with it and sat back down in the armchair. While at first she had wanted to take that bit of responsibility off of her sitter, it was not within her intention to start a race for the front door. Especially so since she wasn't particularly in the mood for visitor's after 7 pm – Sarah thought it was very impolite to ring the door after a certain hour of the day.

It took a bit for Madame Bosco to get there, but then Sarah could hear how the front door was opened and her sitter was greeted by the cheery sounding voice of a man. She couldn't help but feel a tiny bit disappointed that it wasn't Aunt Lavinia… Must be a neighbor then, like the widow had assumed earlier. They chatted a bit at the front door and Sarah might have been able to make out the words if she would have cared to listen, but for the moment she was following Madame Bosco's advice and didn't bother much with it. But she would, very, very soon…

"Sarah!", the old woman called with her slightly raspy voice, "Come, take a look at who has come to check on you!" She actually sounded rather cheery now, too.

And that was what renewed Saarah's curiosity. She didn't know many men around the neighborhood, at least none that would truly care to pass by just to ask about her well-being and she hadn't recognized the sound of the voice from afar, either. But when little Sarah-Jane jumped out of the armchair to identify the guest for herself, she only got as far as to make it three steps away from the furniture piece.

And then, suddenly, a complete stranger strolled into the living room.

"Sarah!", the man exclaimed, both happily and excited, with a smile like a week of sunshine.

"Why, I always thought you were short, but you're so small!" The stranger had an easy time talking, being six foot something tall himself. In the child's eyes almost definitely a giant. His movements were fast and fluent, almost one motion in which he had come around the corner and now dropped to a knee to meet Sarah's sight at a more equal level.

"I'm not short!" Her reply came almost instinctively and she crossed her arms in front of her body.

"Yes, you are!"

"Am not!"

"Yes, Yes...!", his voice rose a bit in volume and with a new frown on his face he asked:

"How old are you?"

"I'm ten already – and definitely not short!"

Putting her hands on her hips, Sarah proudly announced that she was soon-to-be considered a teenager. Sticking out her tongue probably didn't help that fact very much, but she felt that she was right in any way, and he deserved the teasing, this… who ever he was. By the way, who was he, anyway...?

Well, the man didn't mind the teasing at all. If anything, he was amused by it and with a quick movement that Sarah hadn't seen coming at all, he ruffled her neatly cut, dark brown hair. By the time she tried to defend herself against this motion, his hand was already far away from her head again. "Don't do that!", she protested.

"Why, I wish my doctor would be so caring to just check up on me every once in a while." Eventually, Madame Bosco joined the conversation again, but she was just chuckling when she saw the child and the man kneeling in front of her.

"Doctor..?" Sarah wondered aloud while using her fingers to comb her hair back into place. What the other was getting at, she had no clue...

"Yes", the widow assured her, "He's your doctor, isn't he? Lavinia sent him to keep us company."

"Ahm..." She didn't know what to respond to that. The stranger clearly wasn't the doctor Lavinia always took her to and he didn't look all that much like a medical person either, with the hat, the scarf, coat and everything - so something clearly was off. But why would her Aunt sent him here? There would be a very good reason, wouldn't there? Maybe he wasn't as much of a stranger as she thought. He could have been a late friend of her parent's and that's how he would know of Sarah without her knowing of him. But even if that was the case; Why pretend to be a doctor, then?

Lifting himself back up to full height, the man picked up on Madame Bosco's words quickly. "Mhm! There's supposed to be a meteorite shower tonight, and I came over to make sure that no one will be harmed by the side effects."

Although the child was quite willing to believe him, it just added to her suspicion that he was supposedly concerned about a meteorite shower. Those were shooting stars, weren't they? Pretty little lights on the sky, not something harmful… What side effects could shooting stars probably have? Could they fall on her head if she stood outside for too long?

Madame Bosco was, quite obviously, not worried about that. Unlike Sarah, whose mind was more busy figuring out the identity of the stranger, she almost seemed enthralled by the idea of a night sky spectacle.

"A meteorite shower? Oh, that sounds very exciting. What do you think, Sarah?"

"Yes. Yes, it does..." Even though she was still skeptical, there was no denying that anything unusual happening out in near space was quite fascinating. Like many kids at that age, Sarah took an interest in all sorts of things, and was always curious about the odd things in life. Never really afraid of the new and unknown, even if it meant getting a few bruises and scratches.

So while she was wondering about whatever was going to happen this evening, Madame Bosco turned to the so-called Doctor. "Say, can we offer you anything? A cup of tea?", she asked.

Even though he was smiling, the tall man rejected the offer politely.

"Oh, I don't intend to be a bother-"

All of a sudden, Sarah was reminded of her own hospitality towards house guests.

"It's okay! I'll make some for all of us!", she loudly interrupted the two of them and left for the kitchen so quickly that she couldn't hear a word against it.

It most likely wasn't just for her manners that she had gone in such a rush, but also because she didn't fancy talking to the adults at the moment. Should she tell Madame Bosco that she had never seen this stranger before? And if she did, would the old widow know what to do? Then again, the man did not seem dangerous. If anything, it was the other way around; Sarah has had the impression that he had been sincerely happy to see her. It would be terribly impolite to throw out someone who had come with only the best intentions in mind.

Even from the kitchen she could hear the Doctor and Madame Bosco talk, their voices sounding cheerful and excited about what each other had to tell. And in the meantime, the girl carefully set up the hot water and prepared three cups with Lavinia's favorite Earl Grey blend. When she returned to the living room a few minutes later, the two were still going on about what sounded to Sarah like technological advancements that had been developed in the course of the last World War.

"Now, nuclear power, if it isn't used for destruction, can be quite useful when it comes to energy generation – But then, in the long run, people will become aware of the dangers and begin to look for alternatives yet again-" The Doctor was talking about how energy was a problem that would stick with _"this little planet of yours"_ for hundreds of years to come and how this and that was a much better way to do it like he had told some scientist years ago already. Well, Sarah might have enjoyed to join the conversation at some point, but there really wasn't a lot she understood and much less she could have contributed to it. What she could do, however, was to place down the tea for all them, sit down, have a sip and listen.

Oddly enough, it didn't take long until Madame Bosco appeared to be at a loss for words as well. She just let the Doctor talk and nodded occasionally in a way that Sarah recognized from her own way of coping with the widow's often long-winded stories. It would have amused her if not the next thing the older woman did was to get up and prepare for leaving!

"I'm terribly sorry, Doctor, but I believe it is time I was on my way back home now.", she excused herself and Sarah looked at her gasping. Was she really just going to leave her with the stranger?

Even the man seemed displeased by the idea. "Oh no, Madame Bosco. Please, you are good company. Why not stay a while longer?" To mark his point, he even nodded towards the ten-year-old. "Sarah would like you to stay, too - Don't you, Sarah?"

It took her by surprise that he had decided all by himself to let her opinion be heard, and it definitely helped a bit to assure her of his good intentions. Still, Sarah took the opportunity to vote for her sitter's stay.

"Yes! Please stay, Madame.", she pleaded.

The old woman gave her a warm smile and tapped the child's shoulder as a gesture of comfort. "Oh, but I don't think this little Lady needs two sitters. It appears to me that one may be more than enough already, hm?" She paused and waited a little bit to give Sarah a chance to speak on the matter for herself. And the child really wanted to tell her how she could look after herself just fine – except that maybe this wasn't the time and… oh well, there she had just missed her chance to argue...

"No, no… my presence here isn't necessary and I believe these old bones could do with a bit of rest.", Madame Bosco concluded anyway and began to make her way towards the living room exit.

The Doctor didn't interrupt her either, although he wore a look on his face that indicated that he, too, wasn't entirely happy with the situation.

"In any case, you know I'm just next door. So if you do need my assistance, don't hesitate to knock.", the widow assured the little girl and nodded, her smile unwavering.

"Now, who is going to see me out?"

" _I will!"_

The words came almost synchronised from the Doctor and Sarah, and they both rushed to hold the door open for the old woman. He was a bit faster and certainly stronger, too, but the child simply squeezed herself between him and the door. So even though he held the handle she could pretend to he useful by standing at the door's edge like some kind of door stopper.

They moved together with the widow to the front entrance and when the two of them stood to wave her good-bye, Sarah wondered a last time of whether she should run after her and tell her about how worrisome she still found it to be left with a stranger to take care of her, but then decided against it. The man wasn't all that bad, after all. She would be able to deal with him, plus, just like Madame Bosco had said; She was quite capable of looking after herself. At least that was what she was determined to be now.

* * *

 ** _A short author's note;_**

 _As with my other short story "He's worried about you", I was faced again with the challenge, or rather the risk, of missing some important bits of the official canon because I haven't seen them yet. In this specific case it's about things of Sarah's past that might have been mentioned in the Sarah Jane Adventures. I did, however, look up some facts as much as I could and as far as I know the date I have chosen was not referenced in an episode yet._

 _So, aside from that, here is another short story that was born out of the attempt to portrait another angle to that beautiful, special, subtle relationship between Four and Sarah and at the same time I could get in some of the more childish elements to the Doctor's personality, too. Be it for better or worse, I used a number of his quirks and some of the Season 12/13 tropes, too._


	2. Chapter 2

They watched the old woman leave the front yard, and after she was out of sight the Doctor gave the heavy front door a little push so it fell shut almost by itself.

It seemed to take merely a few seconds until a very uncomfortable silence began to settle between the older man and the child. Sarah was still just standing there, staring at the front door, and for some odd reason she felt that he was doing just the same; their minds blank of anything to say or do. So the silence dragged on and became just more and more awkward the longer it kept going. Without looking at him, Sarah could hear the man shift his position slightly and some moments later there was a rustling sound not too far away from her ear. A little surprised by the sudden sound she turned her head to look at him after all, and there she saw a white paper bag which he held out to her. Unlike Sarah, the Doctor had not turned to see how she would react to his gesture, but it was rather obvious that he was offering whatever was in the paper bag.

After everything she was still a bit suspicious, but despite this feeling, Sarah got up on her tiptoes – because he had misjudged her height by some inches – to take a look at the bag's contents first.

Inside were Jelly Babies!

Oh, she was tempted… Except that, you know, as a kid she wasn't supposed to take anything from strangers. Safety rule number one. So she really should know better, but still… it didn't take long for Sarah to overcome the initial hesitation, and she took two, three of the sugary sweets despite the logical reasoning. The thought however, stuck with her and although she had done the first step already, she couldn't quite bring herself to try one of the Jelly Babies.

"You know", she told the man, feeling a bit disappointed by herself now, "I'm actually not allowed to take sweets from strangers."

His straight expression suddenly fell and he turned to look back at Sarah unbelieving of what he had just heard, appearing shocked, if not even hurt by her words. "Ow, Sarah!"

He got down on one knee again and the child took a step backwards when his impressive figure lowered to her level. "I'm not a stranger, I'm your friend! Or, well, at least I am going to be one day." Tilting his head and trying a friendly smile, he asked: "But what's ten-odd years among friends, hm?"

Sarah stared at him with big eyes, and at the same time, shook her head in a slow, certainly confused looking manner.

"I have no idea what you are talking about..." The things the man said sounded interesting, sure... but he had yet to tell her two full sentences that made complete sense to her.

"Ah… yes, that's alright. You will, in time." His attempt at understanding her position seemed a little half-hearted, because he just continued to confuse her even further.

"As long as you'll grow up to be a journalist and take the decision to meddle in UNIT's affairs."

"What _unit_ _'s_? Of whom?"

Sadly, he wasn't in the mood to explain the full story.

"Never mind that for now. Just you know that I'm here today to keep you safe."

The answer came with yet another big, optimistic smile.

Sarah didn't know why, but even though she had not gotten any answer, she felt like smiling with him. To get her disagreement out as sincere as she wanted it to be she actually had to fight down a smirk that was creeping onto her face. "But I'm safe right now... What's there to keep me safe from?"

The thought appeared to have made him stop smiling rather fast.

"I already told you; the meteorite shower. Or rather, something that will come down with it."

"And what's that?" Sarah slowly, but surely, wished that he would just get to the point.

So it didn't help at all that the Doctor shrugged at the question.

"I don't know for sure yet. I'm afraid we will just have to see."

Unsatisfied with all of the answers she had gotten, the child crossed her arms and pouted. Really, was that all he had to say for himself? That he knew the future and because of some vague bit of information he had come to protect her from something… just anything? Sarah had no way of telling if he truthfully believed in that story or if there was more which he just didn't want to give away. In any case, she felt not the slightest bit better informed than she was before. Worse was just that she didn't know what to ask next, and didn't want to ask anyway, if those were the kind of answers she got. So she was punishing him with a very strict and angry look in her eyes.

And that expression he could not stand for very long before averting his look for a moment, and when he picked it back up he appeared a little more apologetic. "Look, Sarah...", he tried, "There isn't a whole lot I can explain or do right now. But we can pass the evening like you normally would, if you like..."

His suggestion didn't sound very exciting, but the child did take a pity on him because of that face he made when he tried to make up for what he couldn't say. The anger faded from her own expression before she was even fully aware of it.

The Doctor cocked his head again, this time to the other side, and his eyes lit up with a new found excitement for challenging her. "Say, what would you do if Madame Bosco was still here? How would you spend this evening, hm? Tell me!"

"Well...", she slowly unfolded her crossed arms and instead tucked a bit on the flower patterned summer dress she was wearing. There had to be something that might turn out enjoyable, if only the child could think of it.

"We would usually play checkers at some point of the evening….", she tried.

"Really, checkers? That game must be a bit simple, even for you?" He complained with both a frown and a shrug of misunderstanding, "Why, all the pieces even go by the same rules!"

"So, you don't like checkers?" First he had asked her to make a suggestion and now he intended to argue? Sarah felt how the very same anger that had left her before now began to creep back into her mind to ruin her mood.

"Ah!" In a moment of sudden enlightenment, the Doctor grasped at his hair with one hand and pointed at the little girl with the other. "I know; I ought to teach you chess! Chess is great sport for the mind - Have you played chess before?"

Sarah shook her head. It was not a bad compromise and she liked to learn something new anytime; However she had another objection to make. "But we don't have a chess board around..." Sure, the board was pretty much the same as the one for checkers, but still they were missing the pieces.

She watched him turn his sight away while he was thinking about a possible solution to this dilemma. But the child didn't see any problem at all. In fact, she had another idea that instantly brought back her good mood and even made her smile wide. "You're not afraid that I will beat you at checkers, are you?", she teased him.

His eyes suddenly focused back on her and his voice even sounded a little bit insulted when he replied;

"Afraid? Who, me? Oh, never! Never! I could beat you in my sleep!", he boasted now and Sarah was laughing at him for that sudden change of mind.

"We'll see about that!", the child responded between chuckles and within another second, ran past the Doctor back to the living room.

"Where are you going?", came a shout after her.

"I'm fetching the board!"

Sarah went straight to rummage through one of the lower drawers of the living room cupboard and quickly pulled out the checkers board, which was folded into a box that contained the pieces for playing. After taking the box back to the couch table, she set up the board and pieces carefully, and at the same time made sure that the white pieces pointed to her side, simply because she preferred them. During all this, the Doctor had also returned to the living room, but not after finally hanging his coat and hat. When Sarah settled back into the armchair, he passed by and set the first move of the black pieces as casually as he laid down on the couch, feet hanging over one of its ends.

He was getting bold was what Sarah thought at that moment, and already by then she has had the idea to maybe just switch two pieces when he wasn't paying attention – because clearly, he had no intention to keep close track of their game. And she would be right about that... He only ever looked at the board when he was making a move, and sometimes not even then. And when Sarah took some extra time to consider the options she had, he would sometimes begin to whistle the Colonel Bogey March tune. Indeed, he looked so comfortable on that couch of her family, you could legitimately count this as playing " _in your sleep_ " - or almost, anyway. They both began to collect the pieces of the other color as the game continued and even though he clearly had the upper hand during their first moves, it seemed he slowly lost grip on the game until eventually the losses on either side became equal. As it turned out, Sarah had no need to cheat on him after all. The way he was playing – or not playing, because by now she had to tell him every time his turn was up – he had actually begun to lose! And judging by the way Sarah looked at it now, the game would soon be over. When she counted the lost pieces of either side again, just to be sure, she clapped her hands and laughed happily.

"You're not so good at checkers after all!"

"Hm?" Either he had been lost in thought or dozing off, but it took a while for him to react. "Excuse me?" The Doctor shifted and propped himself up on one elbow. Only now he began to study the situation on the game board.

"You're losing!", Sarah pointed out all to happily. "Look! You've got twelve white pieces, and I've got fifteen black ones. That means that I am winning!"

A surprised and slightly concerned look made it clear to her that this result came out of nowhere for him. He even sat up to take a better look at how this could have happened. "No, wait… this can't be right!" Just now he was counting the pieces for himself, and Sarah sat there grinning like a Cheshire cat, waiting for him to come to the same conclusion.

But he took his dear time. Surely not for counting, but now he was definitely considering his next move much, much more carefully. It was then that Sarah noticed how the left sleeve of his old-fashioned shirt had slipped back and revealed a rather curious looking bracelet on his wrist. It appeared to be made of some kind of thick metal, which was mainly silver but shimmered golden in the light. There were greenish wires embedded into it that ran all the way through the wristband and assembled in a round plate at the back of the Doctor's wrist. There was no clock on it, but it certainly followed the basic shape of your common wristwatch.

"Doctor, what is that thing on your wrist?", Sarah asked curiously.

He was still very much busy in trying to save his pride when he waved off her question by answering just;  
"Oh, that thing… It simply keeps me from vanishing."


	3. Chapter 3

"Vanishing?", her voice echoed, a certain amount of shock clearly to be heard from it. She didn't like the image of him vanishing just like that, although she had no idea how or why this should happen.

When he heard her concern, he looked up and focused away from their game of checkers.

"Oh, right, I forgot. This I might just be able to tell you about.", the Doctor set out to explain, "A rather sudden interference with time has occurred, and it has all to do with the event that will happen this very evening. Something - or someone - is bound to put your life in danger, and..."

He hesitated for a bit.

"Well, if you do not make it out of that alive, you will never grow up and become my companion. And if you do not become my companion, you will not be around to save my life from that one lethal danger, which in the end means that I am not around anymore at my relative present time that is now to you and me."

Sarah listened carefully, but still gave him a confused look. She wasn't all that sure if she was lucky to hear more when he continued his explanation.

"So, this bracelet here", he said and tapped at the wristband, "creates a personal field of temporal grace. It prevents time from catching up with me so that I can go back and avert the side effects of the original event – if not the event itself – which in turn will allow my timeline to stabilize again."

"So you're saying...", the young girl tried to get the gist, "that you're a time traveler, and you have come to save my life today to save your life in the future?"

He grinned and nodded excitedly. "I knew you would be able to follow me."

Sarah smiled back at him, but not because she was glad she could make sense of his words. No, much rather she was amused by the very idea of what he was suggesting.

"But that's impossible! Time travel isn't possible!", at first she laughed, but in the end she just had to accuse him.

"You're lying!" That was her conclusion, and he had to be thinking that she was still much of a child to simply buy into an explanation like that.

"Oh, but..." The Doctor appeared to be fairly disappointed that she wouldn't believe him. His mouth stood open as he struggled for something convincing to say. "...That is the story." He thought for another moment about it, and eventually a smile spread on his face once more. Plus, this time, he tapped the side of his nose when he said:

"Is it really a lie if it's a good story?"

At first Sarah didn't know what to make of this gesture, but the challenging grin that accompanied it heavily suggested that he didn't intent to tell her truth or lie and just let that bit of information remain a secret. And yes, in a sense Sarah could see that stories were told because they were interesting, and whether they were real or not never mattered much. Except what he had told her just now was not a tale of old, and if it was true then both of them were in serious danger, weren't they? But even though it had been he, himself who had stated it, he did not seem to be troubled by his possible vanishing very much. Actually, Sarah would say he looked rather relaxed. Maybe even more so had the turn of tables not suddenly put him into the losing position in their game of checkers.

The Doctor's look returned to the board only for a few seconds, but instead of continuing their play he addressed Sarah again, wearing now a quite intriguing expression on his face.

"What would you say if I also told you that I'm an alien – not from here?"

The child pondered his question for a little while, unsure of whether she should take him seriously or not. Eventually, she decided to go with it, because she wanted to hear what other story he had thought of. "You mean you're not from Great Britian?"

Her guess only appeared to amuse him. "My dear, little Sarah, I'm not even from your solar system. I come from a planet called Gallifrey, in the constellation of Kasterborous, and my people are among the furthest developed species of the universe." Eyes wide open he expected her to be impressed.

Sarah was still amused by what she heard. Even though she did not find his words to be very credible, she would easily agree that they were quite enjoyable to listen to. "There is no way you could prove your stories to me, or is there?", she tried to challenge him. Of course the child did not expect much of a response, but then the Doctor lifted a finger to indicate her to wait and not to jump to any false conclusions.

"I just might.", he said, and began to search the few pockets on his clothing. When it seemed that he didn't find what he was looking for, he got up and went back to the clothes hanger where he had left his coat."Yo-yo? No, too common. Spectromixer? Too complex. Jelly Babies? She's already had of those… Hmm..." His voice, as coming from the hallway, was distant and quiet and she was just barely able to make out the words while he searched the pockets of his waistcoat. "I wonder if the sonic screwdriver would convince her..." Although it sounded like he was still talking to himself, he had said the last sentence loud enough for Sarah to hear it easily from the living room.

"What's a...", she tried very hard to use the very same word and pronunciation as he had, "What's a sonic screwdriver?" Whether it would convince her of anything or not, her curiosity was definitely invoked.

The Doctor reappeared leaning back into her view from behind the living room door frame. He smiled as wide as ever and presented to her a small, metallic, roughly pen-shaped object. "This is!", he exclaimed in his almost constant cheerful manner, before making his way back to the couch. Then, when the Doctor sat back down, he passed the object into the child's hands.

Upon closer inspection, Sarah found the pen-like tool to consist of several turnable parts and a red-colored, circular head piece. Curious and fearless as she was she tried to shift and turn what she could and see if it did anything, but the tool did not reveal its purpose right away. However, after a bit more of trying around with it, she found that the piece which connected to the tool's head could be pushed down and when she did, the screwdriver suddenly emitted a high-pitched whirring sound. This unusual noise was so displeasing to her ears that Sarah decided to let go of the tool's part immediately, which luckily turned it off, too.

Holding the strange thing back up into the Doctor's field of view, she concluded: "It makes a noise."

That, however, didn't lift her confusion in any way. "But, what's it good for?"

Her play partner looked up from the checker board, just done with his move – whichever that was – and all too eagerly listed the tool's functions for her. "Sonic waves can be used for all sorts of things. Depending on the situation, and with the right frequency set, they can loosen screws, cause disruptions in complex circuitry or might even jam certain transmissions at close range. Given the knowledge how to use it and when, it can be an all-purpose tool."

"Oh, that is clever..." The child still didn't quite understand how it worked, but she knew that bats used sonic waves as a sort of radar, and the radio was a pretty nifty invention too – so at least she felt like what he was talking about was a very plausible concept. A concept which she might even be able to grasp if she would spend some more time learning about it.

"I believe it's your turn now."

Impressed with the concept, Sarah found herself staring at the sonic screwdriver with a greater curiosity than before when the Doctor suddenly prompted her to finally resume their game of checkers. Oh, right. She remembered that she had been winning before. Now it was time to do so. Finally, the girl managed to turn her sight away from the tool and lifted a hand to take the piece she had been looking at earlier and wanted to make the move that would fetch her another one of the Doctor's black coins, but there she found that, unexpectedly, this move wasn't possible anymore. One of his pieces blocked the path she had laid out, and she was almost certain that it hadn't been there before. Slightly put off course by this discovery, she decided to count the pieces on and off the board again and found the numbers to be slightly, but definitely wrong now.

Her eyes widened and her mouth stood open. Oh, she couldn't believe his boldness!

"You've moved the pieces when I wasn't looking!", she accused the Doctor, got up and pointed at the board.

He made a surprised face and looked around as if there was someone else she could have accused instead. "Me? But you were looking all the time, how would I have done it?"

"I wasn't looking when I was busy with this… thing of yours!", Sarah told him straight away and she was getting quite upset now – or, at least that was what she wanted to look like. However, one part of her was very well aware that this was just a game, and not only was it a bit unreasonable to get upset about it, but she had considered cheating for herself earlier, too. So even though she was a bit angry, she did not take the entire situation too seriously. And that was when the child's mind struck an idea. She held up the Doctor's strange tool to him once more, then hid it behind her back.

"And because you were cheating, I will keep it now!", she announced, a wide grin forming on her face.

Somehow, he didn't look too surprised by her action, but nonetheless the Doctor set out to protest.  
"But you can't keep it, you don't even know how to use it!"

A chuckle evaded Sarah when she proudly presented the sonic screwdriver for the very last time, pushing down the neck piece of the tool to active the high-pitched whirring sound for a few seconds.  
"Sure I do!"

"Alright fine, but I need it still." Now the man was getting back off the couch, too, and holding out a hand for the child put his belonging back into. "Come on, Sarah, give it back to me.", he demanded, but at the same time he had this impish smile on his lips and was leaning slightly forward, as if he would reach out for it by himself, anytime.

Sarah had a feeling that it could be just too easy for his tall figure to simply leap over the living room table and grab her before she could get away. So to prevent this from happening, the young girl carefully and slowly backed away, and moved around the table until she knew that the room's exit lay behind her. Challenged as she was, she was still smiling widely when she shook her head and refused.

"No."

"Sarah…!"

He also began to slowly cross the distance she had built up, ultimately forcing her further away and towards the door.

"No!" Even though the Doctor moved as slow as she did, he was crossing a greater distance at the same time, so she began taking bigger steps backwards. She got as far as to make another two or three steps, but then she eventually turned around and ran off!

"Come back here, Sarah!" At first, the tall man didn't follow and just shouted after her. But Sarah wasn't just done yet with her tease. She stopped once more standing in the door frame, and boldly stuck out her tongue.

"You're not getting away with this, do you hear me?"

And - would you look and see – the Doctor was after her within the second, chasing the child around the house!

Of course, the little girl played her knowledge of the house's layout to her advantage as best as she could. For instance, she knew that the kitchen was connected to the dining room, and both of them were connected to the hallway, which allowed her to run a circle through them. Even the round table in the dining room was useful to her, because she could fit below it and between the chairs while the Doctor had to take the long way around it. So maybe he could cross a greater distance in less steps thanks to him being a grown-up and all, but Sarah was much more agile on her short legs. Not to mention that she had good stamina as well. She kept going through the dining room and kitchen in the aforementioned circle for a while until the Doctor had realized that he wasn't going to catch her this way. Instead of continuing his pursuit, he stopped in the hallway waiting for the child to make another round and run straight into him. And Sarah almost had, except that she had noticed him standing there just in time and doubled back before he had any chance to go after her again. Which he didn't do – instead kept waiting for her next round. This time she, too, tried to be cleverer and stopped in the doorway between the two rooms, where she was, in terms of layout, on the opposite side of him. She listened for the sound of his steps coming after her, but except for her own bit of panting it remained silent. Sarah giggled to herself. She had absolutely forgotten how much fun it could be to play catch with adults!

"You know I will get you eventually..." Even though his voice came from the hallway, it was perfectly clear, and – if Sarah wasn't mistaken – she even heard a chuckle among the words. Sounded like he was having fun, too!

It was a bit difficult to tell, but judging by the general direction the voice had come from, she assumed that the Doctor must have moved closer to the kitchen entrance. In consequence, she moved a little further into the dining room, but all the time still listening for the sound that would give away his position. If she just waited here, he had to come for her, and if she could figure out from where, they could keep this game going.

And then – there it was! A loud thud, maybe a foot stomping down on the first step of a sprint, or a thing he knocked over with a hasty movement. Whatever it was, it made Sarah jump and dash forward, straight into the opposite direction, thinking her victory was certain because of how clever she had been.

The child was approaching the door frame back into the hallway when suddenly she noticed something reaching out from behind the open door. By the time Sarah got her feet to stop, not only had she already passed the door, but was also still sliding for a bit on the wooden floor. With an abrupt movement, something pulled her upwards and the feeling of her feet leaving the ground was so terrifying that Sarah let out a yelp. She struggled for a moment or two, before she felt two arms supporting her weight effortlessly, and eventually her shrieking turned into a loud, happy laugh, when she realized that it was all just for good fun.

"Got you!"

The Doctor, too, was laughing, Cheshire cat grin spreading on his face so wide you could fear it would split his head. Pulling the child a little closer, he shifted her in his arms a bit to keep her from falling.

And Sarah hung onto him by his neck, like she used to when Lavinia picked her up – now her Auntie didn't do this much anymore. But she had also not played catch with any grown-up in a long time. More importantly though, the distance to him which she had felt before was suddenly gone; The same feeling that had made him seem like a stranger to her. And now, she was willing to believe that he actually was and had always been a friend, no matter what time line he was talking about. It felt like they were on the same level of thought, despite of god knows how many years of age difference or experience. Such a strangely comforting sensation she had never thought was possible except among family members.

"How'd you do it?" Sarah tucked lightly on the scarf that wrapped around the man's neck, and the Doctor turned around so she could see the kitchen entrance from his arms.

Lavinia's flat brown shoes laid strewn about in front of the doorway. Tossed carelessly, for one reason or another.

"I thought you might be listening for me to make a sound. So I did. It's very simple, really.", he explained rather casually before seeking eye contact with the child from up close. The Doctor even lowered his head, trying a very begging expression.

"Could I have my sonic screwdriver back now, please?"

The only reason Sarah wasn't smiling anymore was because she bit her lower lip now, returning the expression with a somewhat mischievous look of her own. But in the end, she took mercy on him and without as much as a word in reply, she carefully put the sonic screwdriver into his waistcoat pocket. It probably didn't belong there, but the tool had a bit of a pen shape and in her mind that was where professors, engineers and the other scientific kind kept their collection of pens.

"Thank you."


	4. Chapter 4

They kept smiling at each other for a little while longer, but he wouldn't get around to put the child back down yet. Out of nowhere, a high-pitched whooshing sound was heard – just for the fraction of a second – and then there was an almost ear-numbing crash followed by a shock that ran throughout the entire house. The lights were flickering and Sarah was screaming when it happened, all so sudden and so terrifyingly loud. Even the Doctor looked up frightened, and in an instinctive reaction held the little Sarah even closer to his chest. The child kept her face pressed into his waistcoat all too gladly. She didn't want to see what had just happened. In her imagination it had sounded like half of the house had come down crashing. Or – who knows – worse! Her hands held tight onto her new friend until she heard him call her name quietly...

"Sarah… Sarah." Still so close, she thought she could almost feel his breath touching her hair. "It's alright, Sarah. The light's gone out, that's all." The tone of his voice was a comforting whisper and since there were no other, possibly worrying sounds to hear, the child actually began to feel calmer again rather quickly.

"Are you afraid of the dark?", he wanted to know.

As much as she dared to, Sarah shook her head, giving of a negative sound for a reply.

"Okay, then..." He slowly loosened his grip. "I'm going to put you down now." After this announcement he waited for a few seconds so that Sarah had a chance to object, but eventually set her back down as promised.

Only when the child felt the safe and solid ground under her feet again, she opened her eyes. It was fairly dark now that the lights were all off and there was just a bit of light still coming in through the windows. The last rays of the setting sun beaming over the horizon. They put the Doctor's face into an ominous half-light and painted long shadows on the floor. Sarah wasn't glad to see the blackout, but at least she kept her composure and stared back at the Doctor with great worry in her eyes, while at the same time nervously wringing a piece of her dress in her hands.

"Are you alright?" Bowing down to her, the Doctor tried to read her face for clues to her psychological well being.

Sarah nodded slowly, not entirely sure of it, but she did not want him to worry, when really, she could be in a much worse state. After all, she wasn't hurting.  
"Yes, I think so.", she replied when she had found her speech again.

Upon hearing that, the smile returned to his face, and a feeling of optimism was restored between them. "Then let's take a look at what caused this. Come on." He nodded towards the back door of the house and almost immediately turned to walk away.

But Sarah didn't feel like following him towards the danger. Without any audible complaint, she reached out to get a hold of him before he walked away, but missed to grab one of the scarf's ends that were always trailing after him. So she just stood there, silent and scared of whatever was happening. But then, just as the kid had hoped, the Doctor noticed her missing at his side and stopped in his tracks to look back at her. Even before he said anything, he held out a hand to the little girl.

"Don't worry, I'm here to watch out for you. I already told you so, didn't I?"

Again, Sarah just answered with a nod, but she kept hesitating, stuck somewhere between wanting to face the unknown and shying away from the danger. In fact, without fully realizing it, she was now biting her thumbnail.

"It's a promise.", the Doctor tried to reassure her and the smile he wore now was much lighter, making him more sincere about this all than before. He even accompanied his words with a gesture that Sarah recognized as the unspoken expression _"cross my heart and hope to die"_ , except that his fingers painted the invisible cross twice over his chest.

A smile forced its way back onto Sarah's face when, eventually, she took the Doctor's hand and kept close to his side and they began to make their way towards the back door.

They moved slowly, but the closer they came to the backyard the louder and more clearly Sarah could hear an electric noise, a kind of low buzzing of static electricity. It send a new wave of fear running through her body. And that was not all. Her eyes grew wide when the girl noticed flashes of light through the back door window, shining at an irregular frequency and with varying intensity. She was holding onto the Doctor with both of her hands now.

Eventually, and in Sarah's opinion unfortunately too, they made it to the back door. The Doctor gave her a short glance just before he put his free hand on the handle. When he pushed it down, he did so very carefully and slowly and opened the door just by a bit. Enough for them to peek through, but hopefully not enough for anything out there to notice them.

"Hm, that's not quite what I had hoped it would be...", she heard him murmur to himself.

The curiosity had gotten to the kid now, too. When she was trying to get past him in order to get a good look for herself, he stepped back a bit and allowed her to stand in front of him. Even so, he still kept one hand on her shoulder so she always knew that he was right there.

Beyond the door lay the Smith's backyard and garden. A well groomed carpet of grass with a few rose bushes and a wooden fence framing the property. But now there was an object which didn't belong. A sort of sphere with white diamond shaped panels on it lay buried fairly deep into the lawn, with the grass blackened all around it. The object itself was about as big as the next neighbor's tool shed, and appeared to be cracked and burned on the side with which it hit the ground, a bit like an egg someone dropped on a soft surface. It was quite an unusual sight and the light of the sunset made it look even stranger, even gloomier. But that was not the scariest about it yet.

There was a rectangular opening in the sphere and dark on the inside except for a few small blinking lights and out of it came crawling a creature. It was of a greenish color that was faintly but noticeably glowing in the dark, in the general shape of what appeared to be an oversized jellyfish. Sarah had seen jellyfish before, but this, she could swear, was nothing like anything that was supposed to exist on this planet. The crackling and buzzing of electricity was now almost at its loudest, seemingly coming from the sphere.

The girl gasped at the sight and felt every muscle in her body tighten. She would have forgotten to breathe if there was not the hand of the Doctor still resting on her shoulder and giving her shoulder a light squeeze that reminded her of his presence.

"That, my dear Sarah, is a Rutan… coming out of a Sontaran space ship."

She didn't look up or turn around, but she could hear the Doctor explain very clearly, even though his voice was but a whisper. "Presumably hijacked one of the Sontaran's time travel experiments but wasn't able to control it. Either that, or the ship was already damaged in one of their battles."

"Is it dangerous?" Now Sarah looked up, because she wanted to see the expression on his face, read from him the minimum level of worry this situation justified.

What she saw was the Doctor giving his next words some additional consideration.  
"Not if I can sent it right back the way it came…", he said still in this quiet tone. "It appears to be hurt. If it is need of help, I should be able to solve this the diplomatic way. Unfortunately though, Rutans are not known to willingly accept defeat..." Only once he had spoken the last sentence a frown appeared on his face and Sarah very quickly replicated that expression in her own way.

So it was hurt, was it? She looked out of the gap of the door again. So that was why the creature was dragging itself like that. Sure, jellyfish were kind of disgusting to look at, but still there was a feeling of pity within her.  
"So... are we going to help it?", she wanted to know.

Her gaze met his when he shook his head, wild curls bouncing with the movement.  
"Oh, no no no. _You_ are not going to do anything. I can't risk you being electrocuted by a Rutan handshake."

"So it is dangerous!" Sarah concluded, shocked, and the feeling of fear was soon creeping back into her bones.

"Listen, Sarah. Listen closely." The Doctor knelt down beside her again, the look on his face now more sincere than ever before. "I want to try and negotiate with the Rutan. But whatever happens, I need you to stay out of its sight. It is absolutely vital that it doesn't get the chance to hurt you, do you understand?"

She didn't like the idea of him going out there, and even less the idea that he was going out there alone, leaving her here, but she nodded anyway. "Yes, I do."

It didn't help a whole lot that the Doctor patted her head before he stood back up and braced himself to face the alien. But in the end, all that she could do was watch him step out into the garden. Out, into the shadows stretching under the ever lowering sun. She had to trust him to handle the situation, because quite obviously, she wouldn't know how.

Nevertheless, Sarah crept closer to spy on the scene through the crack in the door he had left as he walked out.

The Doctor walked towards the Rutan with a surprising amount of confidence and greeted the creature in an almost casual manner. "Hello!", he cheerfully announced his presence. "I, uh, couldn't help but notice your crash landing there, and wondered if you might need some assistance."

There was a strange gurgling sound and then Sarah watched as the Rutan jellyfish began to rise from the lawn. At first it just looked like it was stemming itself up on those slim thread-like limbs, but then it rose even further and even began to float. At the same time, the gurgling turned into a distorted electric laugh – but with gaps in between, as if the creature was panting.

Just barely was Sarah able to make out some words.

"Must… contact… mother ship.", the Rutan uttered once it was done with its weird laugh.

"The mother ship? No, that's a bad idea. A very bad idea.", the Doctor argued, "Look, I don't know if you realize this, but this planet is far from your battlefield. You're just going to waste your head of command's time if you ask them to pick you up!"

The Rutan did not have any eyes or other features that would have clearly identified a front and backside of the creature, but by the way it turned Sarah could guess that it faced the Doctor. And then there was a new kind of electric crackling to be heard. The Rutan was raising its limbs and its green glow got stronger.

The child watched as the Doctor took a sort of defensive step back. "Okay, okay, just keep calm. There's no need for violence here, see? I'm unarmed. Just come to offer help, that's all.", he pleaded now with the creature.

But Sarah didn't see how his plan would work. She was growing tense with fear yet again when she realized that the Rutan was preparing an attack.

Next, that fear turned reality.

"Out of my way, humanoid scum!"

Lashing out more suddenly then both the Doctor and Sarah had expected, the Rutan whipped one of its finer limbs at the man. Loaded with a burst of electricity, there were sparks flying and a shock to be felt in the air when the Doctor raised an arm to ward off the attack. But it didn't help much – Sarah's new friend was sent crashing to the ground!

She couldn't help but leap forward and scream as high and loud as her lungs were able to, jumping straight out of the door and into the garden.

" **DOCTOR!"** , she yelled, but then froze when she noticed the Rutan turning to face her.

She realized much to late that she had done just the thing the Doctor had told her not to do. Wide with fear, her gaze constantly moved between the dangerous Rutan and the Doctor laying in the grass. There was a small, but unfortunately not very noticeable relief when Sarah saw that he was twitching slightly, then moving again. He had not the strength to lift himself back up and appeared to be in quite some pain – but he looked at Sarah and reached out to her from afar.

" **RUN! SARAH, RUN!"**

He shouted, but in a tone so much different than how she had heard him speak before. So commanding and sharp, it sparked a red hot panic in the child's mind.


	5. Chapter 5

She didn't look twice before bursting into a sprint back into the house. There was a crackling sound behind her, and the sound of the back yard door being slammed open. Whether the Rutan was actually right behind her or she had some extra time to get away, she couldn't guess. Right now, any sound she heard from the creature made it seem like it was much too close already. So Sarah ran as fast as she could, but unfortunately she had no idea where to go. All which she knew was that she shouldn't leave the house and shouldn't be caught. So what should she do? Hide? She had no idea if there was even the time to find a place to hide before the Rutan would catch up. If it wasn't crackling with electricity every once in a while, its floating didn't make a sound, meaning that the sheer anticipation of being caught just added to her panic.

Her mind wasn't working very well under the fear so she had no idea from where or how the idea had come to her, but suddenly she had a plan to try and get the creature off of her heels. After circling through the dining room and kitchen once, then reaching the hallway again, Sarah ran up the staircase to the second floor, stomping her feet on the wooden steps loudly. Then, on one of the last steps she squeezed herself through the bars of staircase railing and carefully let herself drop back to the first floor. As quietly as she could force herself to move under the pressure she hid in the shadows between the two dressers that stood below the staircase. Sitting there pressed against the wall, she waited for the Rutan to pass – hopefully. After merely a few seconds, she saw the soft green glow of the alien creature as it floated over the steps up to the second floor. Sarah couldn't see its body between the gaps of the staircase, but that just helped to assure her that while she couldn't see it, it most likely couldn't see her either. Still Sarah's insides were frozen with fear. She remained as motionless and silent as a statue, and felt a lot like one, too. Only once she was sure that the Rutan had begun to search the upstairs for her, she allowed herself a small sigh of relief, even though deep down she knew it was far from over. What was she going to do next? She wasn't safe, just for some minutes at best. Help was what she needed. And she needed it urgently.

That was when her thoughts returned to the Doctor. She could see the moment of him being attacked flashing through her mind. The Rutan hurt him quite bad, but would he be alright? What if it returned to the garden and decided to finish… No! Oh, the thought! Sarah felt her eyes getting watery, all of this being just too much for a child to take. Before she had liked to think of herself as brave, but this was not like any danger she ever had imagined. Even so, she wouldn't allow herself to cry just yet. This was not the time to give in. Rubbing her eyes dry with a quick movement, she decided to make her way back to the garden while she could.

Still tense with fear, but determined all the same, little Sarah-Jane quietly and carefully left her temporary hiding spot and crept through the hallway back where she had come from. Through the open back door, she quickly spotted the Doctor stumbling through the grass and over to the opening in the spherical space craft. He didn't seem to be very well judging by the difficulty he had to remain on his feet, but Sarah was quite relieved to find him up and about nonetheless. With the knowledge that the soft grass wasn't as noisy as the wooden floor inside, she rushed the very last yards until she was back at the tall man's side.

"Doctor!" Despite wanting to shout the child still somehow managed to suppress her voice.

"Sarah! Didn't you hear what I told you?" The Doctor turned around so suddenly and snapped at her in an upset tone, too, it felt like a small blow to the child's heart.

"I'm sorry, but… but I...", she stuttered with eyes wide and begging. How could she have obeyed his orders when she had that image in mind of him dying out here? Not to mention that she could have never held out in the house forever. Sooner or later, that thing would have found her!

He held onto a piece of the sphere's protective hull to steady himself and Sarah heard him sigh, making her feel twice as sorry for disappointing him. But then the anger vanished from his face...

"No, never mind. I should have known better, known that you would've come back either way."

When he tried to take another step towards the space ship's opening, Sarah noticed him grimace in pain and the next thing she had never expected;

The Doctor's body began to fade away, to just… vanish. The colors of his clothes and body were fading, the space ship and garden behind him beginning to shimmer through instead.

"You're vanishing!"

Fearfully gasping, the girl grabbed his sleeve with both hands, hoping to anchor him down to reality somehow. She was absolutely terrified by how he could just disappear, and now out of all times, too, that they were in terrible danger. Although she could still feel the fabric of his shirt in her fingers, she had no clue if her action helped to keep him here in any way at all. As she was looking around for anything that might help, she noticed the bracelet on the man's wrist to be missing.

Thankfully – although seemingly independent of her action - the Doctor didn't vanish completely and quickly regained his colors and composure. Even the pain he was in subsided, but Sarah kept holding onto his arm. She wouldn't believe that it was over just like that and remained close until she felt he was somewhat stable again.

"Doctor, what's happening to you?", she desperately wanted to know.

Running his other hand, the one that was not within the child's grip, he tried to explain what had happened to him as simple as possible. When he started to talk, Sarah could hear him breathe heavier than usual and saw the tired look in his eyes.  
"The Rutan didn't have the power to kill me, but it blew the power of the temporal field generator. I don't have much time now..." For a second or so his look went to a patch of grass where Sarah saw the bracelet lying, a fine trail of smoke rising from it.

The little girl couldn't believe that everything he had told her before had been truth – in fact, she _didn't want to_ _believe_ that everything had been the truth. She didn't want him to vanish and she didn't want to die because of the Rutan accidentally crash-landing in her family's garden. But here it was, and it was up to her and the Doctor to restore the future that had been disturbed by the event that was unfolding before her very eyes.

"But it's not over yet. Come on, Sarah. We haven't any time to lose!" Taking her by the hand now, the Doctor dragged her with him into the space ship. Except for a large number of small shining and blinking buttons and switches, the inside was quite dark. There was a loose panel next to the console which sparked every once in a while, and the buzzing sound she had heard before was definitely at its peak in here. It was very unpleasant to listen to.

Sarah watched as the Doctor pressed a few of the buttons and then pulled the sonic screwdriver from his waistcoat pocket to undo another panel below what appeared to be the steering console.

"Alright, let's see here...", he mumbled to himself. "The power's cut… I can fix that. The temporal stabilizer, too. Good, if I can exhaust the remaining resources we might just be able to blast that jellyfish back into its own timeline."

Sarah watched over his shoulder when he sat down on the metal floor to fiddle with the internal wiring of the space ship.

"Is the Rutan still after you?", she heard him ask, even though he had both arms stuck deep in the machine now.

Looking back at the house to check on their pursuer, Sarah caught a glimpse of the greenish glow wandering around the second floor still. "I tricked it into thinking I was hiding upstairs.", she told him.

"Well done. That will give us a minu-"

Upon hearing the praise a smile would have almost made its way back on Sarah's face, but then she had to watch the Doctor grunt under the effects of him vanishing once more. This time effect stayed a second longer and he faded away a little more than before, and just like the other time Sarah took a hold of his clothing as if there was anything she could do about it. "Doctor…!", the child called out for him. Within seconds the frosty grip of fear had her heart taken again and she was left with nothing but the hope that they would not be separated just yet. Even though the condition did not take a whole minute to pass, every second that it stayed was another second too much.

When the Doctor was finally back to normal, he took a deep breath and moved back from the panel. Looking over to the child at his side, he admitted: "I'm going to need your help."

The look which he wore now made it clear that he was distressed and, rather surprisingly, it also revealed to the child that he had been willing and able to keep a casual attitude about the threat to their lives – even if only for so long.

Expectantly Sarah waited for an order. So very much she wanted to be of use to him. Not to watch helplessly how time would try to catch up with her new friend again. She watched him loosening a larger part of the ship's electronics that had been integrated into the console. It appeared to be an extremely complicated component, with oddly shaped and colored pieces stuck onto it, although the child had no way of naming all the several parts of consisted of.

"Even if I am able to make the repairs in time, we still need to get the Rutan back in here… I don't think I stand much of a chance in a chase, and we can't ask politely either, but maybe…" He yanked the last piece of the component free. "Here we go! Maybe we can use the Sontaran's temporal projector to pull the Rutan back into the ship." While he went on to explain he sat the projector on his lap and used the sonic screwdriver to make some adjustments to it. "It's usually used in combination with an optical unit, so what I need you to do is..." He kept talking all the same once he was finished and placed the component into Sarah's slightly shaky hands. "…to dismantle your aunt's TV set and link these wires to the exposed copper running up to the glass. Here, if you hold the sonic screwdriver close, it will create a solid connection between the materials."

Sarah didn't know what to reply when he placed his all-purpose tool, too, onto the electronical bundle that was the temporal projector she was holding. She blinked confused, not entirely sure of what he was talking about and whether she was capable of performing this task.

"Come on, Sarah!", the Doctor tore her out of her puzzlement, reminding her of their current predicament instead. "Off you go, we haven't much time! And remember, you must stay out of the Rutan's way as much as possible. Lay a trap for it if you can, and then stand clear of the projector's beam."

Although Sarah didn't feel very much up to the task, the Doctor was quite serious about this. He actually expected her to do it, and portrayed confidence in her, too, and that made her feel challenged rather than intimidated. In fact, it appeared to her that he was eagerly awaiting a positive response from her.

For him, the girl plucked up all the courage she could, and firmly announced:

"I'll do it!" Uncertainty was not to hold her back from saving a friend's life!

"Good girl." His reply was accompanied by a smile so brief it seemed shameful compared to the usual wide grin he had been wearing before.

When the child turned around to leave the space ship, he had already gone back to working on the electronics within the lower console panel. Sarah looked up once more to the second floor before setting off, but the green shimmer of the creature's natural glow was not to be seen anymore. As she walked back through the garden, she knew she had to be extra careful now that her period of grace had passed.


	6. Chapter 6

After she had managed to get into the house quietly again, she continued her journey through the hallway on tiptoes. Every time she passed a door she listened for any sound and then peeked inside once before finally sneaking past it, just to be sure. By the time time she reached the dining room door, no sound had been heard from anywhere, but then as she tried to pass it by, a shiver ran down her spine as she found the Rutan hovering in front of the cupboard. At first she fearfully thought it would have noticed her presence, but then she saw how its body was slightly tilted towards the cupboard. It took a second or so for Sarah to fully realize that the alien jellyfish appeared to be examining her and her aunt's family photos that sat lined up on the furniture piece. Why, she wouldn't dare to guess – she was just happy that it was facing the other way. Holding her breath and keeping the rising panic on her inside under check with all the willpower she could muster, Sarah kept creeping past the doorway and just as quietly made her way to the living room. Internally she was begging for the living room door not to make a squeaking sound as she pulled it shut behind her. Only after the door had been closed, she allowed herself a few gasps of air, although every muscle in her body still felt tense with fear and she was shaking a bit. Her hands, too, felt damp with cold sweat.

In the corner of the living room sat the family's TV set. An old-fashioned piece with a large wooden casing and a very small screen made from thick lead glass. Sarah never fancied watching TV very much. There was never much on that interested her. Not that this mattered right now, though…

The child sat the temporal projection unit down on the floor and examined the TV for the screws which held the casing in place. Although she quickly found them, she wasn't so sure how the sonic screwdriver would be able to undo them. Not that she had much of a choice how she would do it. In order to fetch an actual screwdriver she would have had to make yet another trip through the alien-infested house and that was not an option. Sarah picked up the Doctor's tool and held it over the casing's first screw, with one hand covering the screwdriver's head to numb its whirring sound to the outside. When she turned it on, the girl was biting her lip, absolutely nervous that the Rutan two rooms further would be able to hear the tool working.

She waited a little bit, and removed the screwdriver again. The screw beneath it had practically unscrewed itself and now hung to the tool's head by magnetic force. Putting the first loose screw away, Sarah quickly went on to remove them all, although every time she had to turn on the whirring sound her worries were just increasing. After a minute or so, however, she was able to take off the entire wooden casing of the television set, revealing the full body of the convex screen underneath. It was the first time she had seen the backside of a TV and was appropriately impressed to find colorful and strange-looking electrical components inside – although this was nothing compared to the temporal projector or the things the Doctor was fiddling with at this very moment. Now what was it that he had told her she should do? She was to combine the projection unit with the TV by melting the wires together? Wires, wires… Which wires? Just how was he able to think straight knowing that any moment he could be electrocuted or vanish for good, whichever unlucky fate struck first? Trying very hard to focus on the task at hand rather than at the ever growing pile of worries in the back of her mind, Sarah examined the electrical parts inside of the TV. There was a large collection of exposed copper where the glass fused with the plastic that covered undoubtedly more electronics. When she picked up the wires running from the alien's technology she sincerely hoped that this was what the Doctor had meant and that her construction would not blow up in her face if she had to find out she did it wrong.

Keeping the foreign material in place with one hand and lifting the sonic screwdriver with the other, she activated the cursed tool once more. This time, she could feel the wires resonating with the sound waves between her fingers and the material slowly began to melt and fuse together as she watched.

That was just when, all of a sudden, the living room door opened.

"...Auntie?"

Eyes wide now not with fear, but with confusion, Sarah stared at the doorway where the older woman had appeared. The one that could only be her aunt, Lavinia Smith.

Emotions and questions flooded her mind. Too many and too much to make out a clear thought at first.

She was relieved to see her familiar face, and feeling a little more safe at the same time, but just as worried and puzzled to how she had actually gotten here so early and unexpected. And all of a sudden, the TV set with the temporal projection unit had been gone from her mind completely.

"My child..." Lavinia smiled at the girl, a smile that attempted to look as kind as she could be, but something about it struck Sarah as strangely disturbing. There was no word of welcoming, no _"happy to be back home"_ , not even the question of what was going on here, why the blackout and why Sarah was ruining the family's expensive TV set. Nothing… that the little girl would have expected.

"Would you come here for a moment?", was all that she asked of her.

Sarah had almost been on the way to greet her, that part of her that wanted to run into her aunt's arms and shouting in her mind to embrace the safety of her own family rather than the advice of the stranger that was the Doctor. But the more logical, usually worried side of her mind held her back. There was something wrong about Lavinia, and even though it was difficult to tell what it was exactly, the feeling was just about strong enough to keep her feet where they were.

Lavinia opened her arms in an almost mechanical way, the movement looking rather stiff and not welcoming at all. "I'm not angry with you. I won't harm you.", she tried again to gain Sarah's trust. The kind of trust, she, as a member of the family was supposed to have from the very start, but she didn't…

And she wouldn't have it.

Sarah just kept growing more and more skeptical. Lavinia appeared as if she didn't even know how to address her own niece properly, and what an inviting hug had to look like. The young girl backed away slowly and returned to cower behind the TV set. She didn't dare glance at how she had fixed the two units together, but secretly hoped that the sonic screwdriver had been able to work its magic before her work had been interrupted.

The smile on the older woman's face turned from the kindhearted expression to something twisted, her eyes suddenly beginning to spark with a bizarre glow. And then Sarah heard that sound again, the quiet crackling of static electricity that was beginning to build up. That was when she had become certain that this wasn't Lavinia she was looking at. It was the very same feeling, very same impression that the child had gotten moments before the Doctor had been struck with the Rutan's lightning. Now Sarah could feel the icy shivers running through her entire body. What was she to do? She had no magical bracelet that could take the energy and just burn out instead of her body getting roasted…

Well, but she did have… that thing. The temporal projector linked with the TV. Would it work? She didn't really have a choice. If she would not try it now, any second she could be toast – and the Doctor's fate would be sealed, too. With a very sudden movement, the child's hand reached forward to press the Power button of the TV set.

With a sound that started out low, but was steadily increasing in pitch, the temporal projector began to start up, flashes shining from inside of the alien ship's component at first, but then something switched on inside of the TV, too. A light that was beaming out of the glass screen stabilized. It shone in many varying colors – although the TV itself was not capable of this. When the strange rays hit Lavinia she looked surprised, almost shocked, really – and the bizarre glow in her eyes began to take a strong greenish color.

"What are you doing?", she demanded to know, and her voice was gaining an additional noise that sounded with it – like a low buzzing of electricity that Sarah feared and knew very well by now.

The child went into hiding behind the TV set again, now that she was clearly more afraid of the not-Lavinia than she was of her odd construction to blow up. Still she peeked around the corner just in time to see the shape of the alien creature forming and changing, appearing in the very place her so called aunt had been standing before. The metamorphosis from humanoid to monster was accompanied by the electrical sound she had heard before, but also by the sounds and light effects that were coming from the temporal projection unit. Watching, and – screaming for her life, too, if she had only dared to – she noticed the green jellyfish raising its thin limbs, the electricity becoming so strong that it was now visible all around it. It was still going for that attack!

But then something odd happened… it slowed down.

The Rutan's electricity was drawn away by the TV set, and the movements of the creature itself began to drag until it stopped completely – seemingly suspended in time by the machine the Doctor had made Sarah put together.

Still being frightened, the girl waited a little longer until she felt it was safe to look, but then she slowly moved out of her hiding. With curious eyes she stared at the creature for a bit. It was like a photograph, or a film tape on hold, but real, 3-dimensional. Even the remaining sparks and bolts of electricity around the jellyfish were unmoving. But just as she was wondering just how long this state would last, a flash suddenly engulfed the alien being and within the wink of an eye – it was gone!

The high-pitched sound of the alien device attached to the TV also lowered, and turned off all by itself a mere seconds later.

Sarah stood surprised, staring for many more moments still into the empty space where the creature had been. Had it been transported back into the space ship as the Doctor had planned? But, had there been enough time for him to repair the… the things he needed to do first? Sarah's confusion quickly gave way for the fear and worry that wanted to get a hold of her once more. Sincerely hoping that she would make it to the Doctor in time, Sarah ran back to the Smith's garden as fast as her short legs would allow it.

She had not even made it out of the house yet as the low buzzing she had heard from the spherical space ship before suddenly rose to an incredible volume. There was a sudden flash of blinding light from the backyard, a thunder like growl in the sky and another shock that shook the walls of the house and made Sarah feel like running towards an earthquake. A loud yelp escaped her – she didn't want to scream – but she couldn't help it. Being surprised by strong forces like that was a horrible, terrifying feeling the child just could not get used to. She had to blink a lot and stumbled about the hallway half blinded while her eyes were recovering from the flash – but when they finally did, she was staring out into the garden and found the sphere to be missing. The hole where it had crashed into the ground and burned the grass all around it was still there, but it, too, began to vanish before Sarah's eyes! As if it had never been there! Still fearing for the Doctor's life, the child rushed out. With a panicked gaze she looked around hastily.

At first, she had noticed the figure only by the movement. What appeared to be the shape of the Doctor, stumbling and crawling away from the crash site, but he was almost entirely invisible!


	7. Chapter 7

"Doctor!", Sarah shouted, but felt breathless at the same time. She ran as close to him as she dared, moving carefully with his every step, right at his side, but now she hesitated to reach out for his hand. Color returned to his form only gradually, and much too slow for her taste. Her hands were shaking as she waited for him to stabilize to a certain degree. The feeling of reaching through him was a sensation she was afraid to experience, since she had no idea what kind of damage it could do. Was it not bad enough already that she had no clue how to help? If she only had the faintest notion of what she could do to get him back to reality and keep him there. But here she was helpless again, she just… She was forced to watch him break down in the grass.

Even though she finally got a hold of his hand, the man was far too heavy for her to stop his fall. Instead, he pulled her down with him and the girl landed on her knees next to the man's unmoving body. When she noticed the peaceful expression on his face, there was nothing she could do about it anymore – tears were filling her eyes. "Nooo..." Sarah squeezed the large hand in hers tightly as the first tear fell from her cheek. It wasn't fair, she thought. She'd done everything right! They were supposed to be safe now – both of them! The girl rubbed her eyes, but it didn't help to quench the sadness at all, which made her just more furious about how useless she already felt. Desperate for a reaction, Sarah grabbed at her adult friend's waistcoat and shook him forcefully.

"Doctor! Doctor!", her voice sounded broken and even more high-pitched than usual. Oh, how pathetic she sounded. She could have drowned herself in self-pity, on top of everything. "That's not fair! You promised!" The anger began to break out of her, all the ways in which she had been upset about her helplessness, and that was quite a lot. She wanted to do something so badly, and didn't want to accept that her friend's fate was final.

"Not fair, not fair…!", she repeated over and over, her voice getting quieter again with every word and every punch, as she let out all her frustration by hitting the man's chest with her small fists.

Thankfully, she didn't mean harm and wasn't very strong anyway...

"Ow, ow...! Ouch!"

With the widest eyes of disbelief Sarah looked up as the hand of an adult caught hers mid-air and she saw the figure that lay in front of her shifting with a grunt. The Doctor had come around quite suddenly, thanks to her rude wake up call no doubt. He coughed and wore a tired look in his eyes, but a smile stretched across his face when his sight fell on the girl. He had, however, very quickly found the strength to banter with her again.

"Sarah, there's no point in beating a dead horse. I'm already awake."

"Doctor...", Sarah sniffled, but her insides were flooded with a new feeling of relief, so glad was she to see he was – considerably – well.

His smile faded a bit when he noticed the tears in her eyes. She didn't do a very good job at hiding them, she would admit. "Oh, don't you worry." While giving the child a sympathetic look, the Doctor sat back up in the grass.

"I'll always be alright.", he said, and, between these words and the next, he leaned closer to her and nudged the child's head with his own in a playful manner.

"And I know you'll be alright, too. Won't you, hm? I know. I'm certain of it. Did I already tell you that I've been to the future?"

Sarah pushed him away by his shoulder, but didn't put much force behind her action. In fact, even her giggling revealed that she was in no way upset with him. He had tried to make her laugh, and that he had achieved already. She just wouldn't let him have that last word. "Don't you dare play dead ever again!" The child's giggles mixed with her still broken sounding voice into a funny tone when she jokingly replied and this time it was the Doctor who laughed at her.

"I don't think I can promise you that.", he teased back, and Sarah let it go now, because when she tried to rub at her eyes again, she suddenly found them to be dry already!

"Well then..." When the Doctor finally rose back to his feet, he swayed a bit at first, but despite being a bit out of balance he offered Sarah a hand to help her get up from the grass, too. As they stood steady again, he took a good look around the garden, before pointing at the patch of lawn where the space ship had crash landed earlier. There was not a single trace of what had happened now and Sarah even had the impression that the very memory of the sphere sitting in the grass had begun to fade from her mind.

"Look!", the Doctor showed her, with his voice sounding as if he was quite fascinated by this discovery. "Now that we have undone the disruptive event, the fabric of time has begun to repair itself. It's coming around full circle. It will be as if none of this ever happened; Forgotten by time itself."

Obviously he had tried to give an explanation for the alien's ship vanishing, but there wasn't much which Sarah understood about it. She didn't really care either, because she was just so glad that the danger was gone. For once, she didn't feel like asking more questions. And Auntie Lavinia wouldn't ask either, because there wouldn't be anything out of the ordinary when she returned home. Twice as good for Sarah, because that meant she could avoid getting into trouble. The fact that the Doctor did not continue to say anything else and the long pause which followed forced the child to look up into his face. She had no idea why, but his smile had been replaced with a rather serious expression and a light frown. This seriousness gave the child a bad feeling and she dearly hoped that it was nothing more than a strange impression this time.

"… Is something the matter?", she asked him.

"Hm? Oh, no no." The Doctor blinked surprised and by the time he turned to face her the seriousness was gone.

"I'd say we've done well, wouldn't you? Personally, I could have skipped on time trying to fast-forward my fate, but as you know; No plan's perfect. That reminds me..." His look fell on something in the grass and when he moved over to pick it up, Sarah saw that it was the burnt out bracelet, which he examined for but a short moment.

"I will have to repair this sometime.", he concluded.

Seeing how the bracelet had not disappeared yet and didn't seem to be disappearing anytime soon, either, a thought crossed the child's mind. "What about the thing I fixed up? Will it disappear like the space ship did? And if so, it won't take the TV with it, will it?"

"What thing?" While they were talking, the adult walked back to the house, but waited before stepping through the backdoor until Sarah had caught up to him.

"The projector thing I attached to the TV. The one which captured the jellyfish.", she tried to explain.

"Ah, right! The temporal projection unit has to be disconnected first. Come!" He nodded towards the house and laid an arm around little Sarah's shoulder – as much as that worked with the height difference, anyway – to guide her back indoors.

Sarah-Jane watched him collect his sonic screwdriver from the living room table and how he began to undo the cable amalgamation on the backside of the open TV set. Under the influence of the Doctor's whirring tool, the metal turned back to a liquid state and could be detached easily within mere seconds. After the alien ship's component had been removed, they set the wooden casing back into place together. Very soon, the living room, just like the garden, looked as unexciting as ever, and the Doctor picked up the projection unit and walked back to the house entrance with it. Curious to what he was going to do next, the girl followed his every step, even as he stopped in front of the clothes hanger.

"Hold this a moment for me, will you?" Dropping the electronical component into Sarah's arms, the Doctor went on to collect his hat and coat.

With a sad look in her eyes, but a hopeful expectation twinkling in them at the same time, she raised her head and tugged on the man's scarf to get his attention.

"You are not going to leave, are you?", was what she wanted to know, although it was really quite obvious what the answer would be.

"But I'm afraid I have to."

Disappointed to hear what she had expected, but not hoped for, Sarah's gaze fell to the floor, where the tassels of the long scarf lay. That was also how she noticed the Doctor kneeling down to her level once more. She didn't really want to look into his eyes, but now that he was in front of her she didn't want to turn her head away either. And when he took the device back from her hands and set it next to them on the floor, there was nothing she could have hidden her disappointed expression with anymore.

"You see," he tried to explain himself now,

"I would like to stay, but I believe that your aunt won't approve of me taking care of you."

Sarah's look went straight to the floor again and again, glancing at the Doctor's face only every now and then as she argued. "But it was her who sent you. Wasn't that what you told Madame Bosco?"

The next answer took a while to form. When she checked his face impatiently, she noticed the adult tilting his head and his eyes searching around the room for a bit – obviously trying to make out what kind of answer would be pleasing for her to hear. But Sarah understood all by herself what that pondering meant. A little bit shocked that he even considered lying, she concluded: "You just tried to convince her that you are a friend; You don't even know Auntie Lavinia!"

"Well, I know as much as you will tell me about her in a decade...", he admitted to her accusation, in some way, at least. The guilty look on his face did the rest, although he had without a doubt chosen that expression on purpose. A trick that worked marvelously on Sarah, because she found it suddenly impossible to act upset towards him.

"Now don't be sad, Sarah. You are a brave little girl, and a wonderful future lies ahead of you.", he told her.

The praise came as a bit of comfort, but she didn't dare to smile. Not until she remembered the story he had told her during their game of checkers. In the far future, they were still friends, and she would be there to save his life… another time.

"We'll meet again, won't me?"

He acted a bit appalled when he jokingly replied: "I sure hope so!" But then he was soon smiling wide again, and chuckling, too. He tipped the brim of his hat and added: "Just be patient and you'll see."

Sarah returned her warmest smile and next – well, she hesitated a bit because she wasn't sure if he would allow it – but that hesitation quickly faded away, because she figured eventually that she was worrying too much. The little girl took that one, possibly last chance that he was at one level with her, stepped close and wrapped her arms around his neck. She could feel that she had taken him a bit by surprise, but he relaxed quickly and even hugged her back, although one arm was more than enough for him to wrap around the child. It was a short, but tight embrace that was welcomed by both as parting gift nonetheless.

By the time Sarah stepped back from him, the ever lasting smile on his face had turned soft, and he rose back to full height while picking up the projection unit at the same time.

They walked together to the front door and when the Doctor stepped out into the shades of the early night, he adjusted his hat one more time before saying his farewells.

"Bye, Sarah."

Within the minute he had turned and was walking away from the Smith's very ordinary little house.

The girl still stood and watched him leaving; Saw how he moved towards one of the blue police phone boxes she knew from the town. Funnily enough, she had never noticed that there was one in her neighborhood now. At first she thought he was playing another joke for her. After all, how would he get out of town calling the police? But then she had to realize that he was quite serious about this. He stopped after he had pulled the door open and waved back to Sarah one last time. "Bye-bye, little Sarah!", he shouted.

A bit confused by his action, the child waved back until he stepped in. And then, ever adding to the mystery of the man, a light began to shine and pulsate on top of the police box. It emitted a pleasant, but funny whooshing sound that stopped only when the whole police box had disappeared from the pavement.

A smirk and a chuckle escaped her and Sarah was still waving back slowly, when she replied to herself only:

"Bye, Doctor."


	8. Epilogue

_**EPILOGUE**_

" _'_ _Bye Sarah_ _'_? What do you mean, _'_ _Bye Sarah_ _'_?", asked a well-known female voice.

His smile grew ever wider when the Doctor shut the TARDIS' door behind him and turned to face the 25 years young woman from South Croydon, who had waited for his return patiently.

"Why, I mean ' _Hello,_ _big_ _Sarah!_ '", he corrected himself as he stepped closer to the TARDIS' controls and placed some funny looking space ship part on an empty space between the many buttons.

Sarah-Jane smiled when she realized what his greeting really meant. "So you've met my past self, haven't you?", she wanted to know all too curiously, mainly because she had a good feeling that she would always get on with him well, whether it was fifteen years into the future or the past.

"Yes! We had tea, shared Jelly Babies, and I beat you at checkers." He tried to mention it in a very casual manner, but she thought it was a bit funny he had to mention it at all. Of course he would beat her ten-year-old self at checkers. He was the Doctor, he would even beat the checkers World Champion if the universe depended on it.

"I expected nothing less from you.", Sarah commented, but then she gasped as the strangest of thoughts crossed her mind. "Wait a moment… How come I don't remember meeting you during my childhood?" And not only should she be able to remember their meeting now, but what about the time the Doctor regenerated? Should she not have recognized his new face? Just thinking about the consequences of this was giving her a headache.

The Doctor was already busy to set a new course for the TARDIS when he replied: "I just told you two minutes ago, didn't I?"

Sarah had no idea when or who he meant, because that he had not explained to her, so she just shrugged, and in turn, because she didn't reply verbally, she forced the Doctor to look up from the console.

"Right, that was the little Sarah I talked to... The fabric of time has repaired itself, meaning that from the viewpoint of your younger self, none of it ever happened. The only reason I don't forget about it is-"

"-because _you are a Time Lord_.", Sarah concluded. It seemed that it was always the same reason why he remained unaffected by strange things that happened to time itself. She smirked, because she wouldn't understand it, and didn't really care either, as long as it kept him safe. If she ever asked, she would probably get a very long-winded explanation, or he would just try to get her off of the topic, as he did sometimes when he didn't felt like talking about a thing.

"Exactly.", he agreed, "All I had to do was to recollect the bracelet, disconnect the Sontaran temporal projector from your aunt's TV and make sure I was gone within roughly fifteen minutes after the paradox was resolved."

"My aunt's TV?" Suddenly, Sarah furrowed her brows. She remembered one thing that happened roughly at the time of her childhood the Doctor had visited just now. "That's funny; There was the one time our TV set was broken, and Lavinia was convinced that I must have fiddled with it, although I remembered nothing of it."

"Oh!" The way he suddenly tore open his eyes and hit his forehead with the palm of his hand revealed to the young woman that her assumption must have been quite right. "The feedback must have overloaded the electron gun, of course!", he figured – whatever that meant, but it had been his fault, alright.

A concerned frown appeared on the Doctor's face when he wanted to know about the consequences of this overlooked detail. "It didn't get you into trouble, or did it?"

"Oh, I _only_ got grounded for the weekend.", she replied with a strong sarcastic tone, but, you know, there was no way she could be really upset about a story so long forgotten and forgiven.

"Well!", the Doctor said, pointing at her in a lecturing manner and smiling once more,

"Next time, tell your aunt that your time traveling friend instructed you to save his life by borrowing some of her equipment!"

Obviously, Lavinia would never believe her if she told that, but Sarah went with it anyway, because just the thought of how her aunt wouldn't be able to take the truth form her was amusing her to no end.

"Hm-hm! Next time, I'll tell her that I can't be grounded because we have a universe to save!", she responded, laughing.


End file.
